Newcastle Herald readers have their say: Let him who is without sin cast first stone

Mitchell, if it is true, has done a stupid thing and deserves a swift kick in the bum for it.

But the reason I'm writing this letter is because I'm sure every person who has suddenly become able to judge Mitchell, and I include myself, has done something absolutely stupid in their lifetime.

A majority of us were never found out. Mine was smoking while at the beach with my mates. Having the occasional swim washed the fumes off me and I chewed lots of gum.

All I ask is that we stop judging people when we don't know all the details. I hope that all is tidied up soon. Why do we need a new captain when we (the Knights) have a terrific one in Mitchell.

PETER Devey (Letters 30/11) raised some important points about low energy efficiency, and water loss of pumped-hydro (PHS) electricity generation.

Yet the typical energy efficiency of thermal coal and oil-fired generators is around 37 per cent, and 56-60 per cent for combined cycle gas plants, compared to the higher 70-80 per cent for pumped hydro. And the thermal processes lose most of their lost energy as heat requiring cooling.

Australia's current thermal power plants' use of freshwater for cooling is equivalent to the consumption of 5.4 million Australians.

While PHS needs water, it does not consume it, it simply recycles it, so evaporation is its only water loss. With current PHS projects minimising additional evaporation, by incorporating existing water storages, where possible, water loss is certain to be another positive for PHS.

MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

I agree with Peter, as PHS projects tend to need longer planning and construction times than wind and solar generation, we are lucky to have readily available coal and gas dispatchable generation.

Once completed though, PHS is the ideal complement to variable wind and solar. It can buy cheap power to pump water uphill in periods of renewable excess then use gravity to convert that stored energy into power when wind and solar can't meet demand, and prices are high.

This ability is something traditional dispatchables will find difficult to compete against.

POWER companies and the government don't really care about reducing energy costs.

They boast of dropping energy prices yet when you get your bill and you have done the right thing to get a solar panel system fitted to your home, to ease the drain on the grid and to support renewable, you will see a notification indicating that because there has been a significant increase of families installing solar panels which has boosted the power grid, they have decided to reduce your buy-back prices of the amount of energy your home is putting back into the grid.

I thought that we were all working together to reduce the use of fossil fuels and ease the burden on the power grid to help the environment, where's the incentives to install solar, when money-hungry suppliers aren't doing their bit, and the government support this by saying and doing nothing.

These power companies must align themselves with our health insurance companies, because they are all out to increase the financial burden on Australian taxpayers. Shame.

HAVING the opportunity to take more notice of what is most concerning the community at present, I have had to continue with my "climate change" stance and why it's important.

I have written a few letters about the importance of understanding what the term means, why the urgency to confront it and how that can be achieved.

I raise the issue because It is well documented that the earth temperature is warming (for the worse), we know why, and also how to stem the progress. I have just read an Opinion article by Waleed Aly in the SMH, 25/12, headed "This year wasn't unprecedented. If anything, it set a precedent."

I suggest it be read by everybody concerned about "the greatest challenge of our time". It is an explicit account of how the precedent occurred, and that more likely than not "worse is yet to come". It is an extremely sobering article and everybody should have access to the information Waleed has been brave enough to broadcast.

LIKE your reader Frank Ward, from Shoal Bay, (No Happy New Year unless we help the aged, NH 31/12), I also almost threw up and choked on my sandwich both at the same time when I heard our PM deliver his Christmas message.

If there is anyone still around in the government directly responsible for the dreadful mess we oldies find ourselves in now, it is Scott Morrison.

His time as Minister for Social Services was the catalyst. During his time and since as leader all he has done is attack the aged.

His overall record and sustained attack borders on criminal. Not only the aged remember he was the architect of the Robodebt debacle.

A lot to answer for our PM but being a champion of the aged he is not.

AS a 70-plus-year-old I am disgusted by the current 'dog eat dog' world of politics.

However, what concerns me the most is what the younger generations must think, given that they have never seen any other type of world.

In the past year, we have seen a prime minister go on holiday while his country was on fire. Another country's prime minister was willing to lower the standard of living of his constituents and the break-up of his country in order to satisfy his ego. This PM won a referendum to enforce his will but only after he and his cronies lied through their teeth. Lies that the people are now coming to realise after it is too late.

Then we have a president who played golf while his countrymen and women died in the hundreds of thousands. The same president who is attempting a coup by calling into question millions of votes but only votes in states that didn't go his way.

There are plenty of other examples of this dog eat dog political world but you are only allowed so many words.

Back to my original point, I fear that anyone born, shall we say, after 1990 will have little reason to care for others when all they see is the grift and avarice of their current political masters.

LET'S hope the Mitchell Pearce drama doesn't turn into a Days Of Our Lives story daily and some. Whatever the Knights management are going to do, please do now and let's move on. Irrespective of what they decide, it will polarise opinions of course. We are entitled to have a view on what the decision should be, but the only opinion that matters at the end of the day is the Knights management team.

I HAVE been informed that some Hunter caravan parks are full of Northern Beaches residents who arrived after the shutdown. This is disgusting how they compromised our families' health.

EVERYONE is entitled to their opinion, even John Hewson. It is a bit rich of him to tell the government and/or the opposition how to run things, seeing when he was leader and going into an election he could not explain the GST and lost an election that everyone thought he would win. Why not let the government and opposition get on with their job, he has had his turn at leading the country.

IT was so uplifting to see local legend, Jaci Lappin, CEO of Carrington Bowlo, on your front page on New Year's Day. This woman, smiling through adversity as usual, is a local treasure. The story of how Jaci turned the Carrington club around, financially and membership wise is a story worth telling. Not only did she embrace the Carrington community, but her social membership extends even beyond Greater Newcastle to Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens, numbering 5000. I am proud to know this special Novocastrian and to be a member of her wonderfully diverse and interesting club.

STEVE Barnett, the answers are, no, (Short Takes, 1/1). Tasmania, WA, Qld, SA, ACT and Vic's second time around, you come down hard and quick, to thump it. Look at the mess of the half measures in Europe and the US. China sure is sitting pretty now. All Australians doing the restraint for safe freedom, until we know we're on top, should get a medal.

THIS is disgusting! (Shipping reshaped, NH, 1/1) Unions point out that robbing Australians of maritime transport jobs will negatively impact rail projects and jobs. The LNP boldly lies as it has so often before and says gutting Aussie jobs won't hurt anyone. Why do they want pay packets which could aid our recovery going into offshore accounts? Recent revelations of systemic corruption may well provide a clue. It is high time we reverse this trend of stagnant wages and job losses and return the wealth of our nation to those whose work creates it.